Is Auchi Doing Well?

Is Auchi Doing Well?

Aren’t We? Why Not? _ Are We? How Well?

(Musings of an Auchi Boy)

By: Jeremiah Enaholo Kadiri

auchiblog@gmail.com

jeremiahkadiri@gmail.com

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“A few of us will never die.

Many of us are already dead

while much more amongst us are dead awaiting.

 _Enaholo J.K.

Muhammed Ali of blessed memory once opined that “charity is the rent we pay for living on earth.” It is today one quote that a majority of us are greeted by whether via the screens of our mobile phones or on TV. The question is, how well do we appreciate the quote for what it stands for? do we even understand its meaning or are we simply awed by the fact that a black man who became a long reigning champion in a white man’s ring could also spin words like spiders do webs? Well, this about our being a people of the great Auchi Sacred Kingdom and not essentially about Ali’s pun on words.

That Auchi stands out whether as a geographical location, commercial nerve center, political giant, industrial hub and what-have-you in the spectrum of Edo North is not debatable. She has become the mother of not just her biological kids but more so, has accommodated her neighbors’ children in the most hospitable ways ever. For this reason, Allah has situated her in the minds of everyone to the extent that wherever you are in the world, when coming or referring to Edo North, what comes to your mind is Evbo’Uchi (Auchi).

She accommodates a foremost institution of tertiary education that has over the years become a citadel of higher learning and research under a son of the soil, Alhaji S. M. Jimah (Tpl, PhD), she is a home to a diversity of all walks and race of life, she’s the hub of commerce as evident in the spate of financial institutions and businesses, she was and is still home to the Inu Umorus of Setraco, Hartland and Presidential Hotels and Suits, she is the mother of intellectuals, tech gurus and multinational/multimillion entrepreneurs. She is home to the Benin Owena River Basin, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources headed by her son, Engr. Saliu Ahmed and to draw a curtain on the too numerous to mention items she accommodates, she is home to the Political Administrative Center of Etsako West Local Government Area, Edo state.

From the foregoing it is unequivocal that Auchi is much more than just a community of people who are simply coexisting in one space. Auchi is a shining example of what it feels like to be home. She is the Home for All, a fertile land for the growth and development of capacity, businesses and spirituality thanks to the fatherly role of His Royal Highness, Alh. Aliru H. Momoh, Ikelebe III, the Otaru of Auchi Sacred Kingdom who in his magnanimity has chosen the path of extravagant peace that has been key to our development and subsequent etching of the name ‘Auchi’ in the hearts of men and on the map of the world.

There is no doubt that Auchi has grown geometrically before my eyes in opportune time. There is no doubt that there’s more coming especially with the advent of recent social circles that have been created to bring her sons and daughters together no matter where they are in the world via the instrumentality of the new media. The most recent of which is the Auchi Project Group has in no small measure made me proud of my heritage given the enthusiasm there is therein to further drive home the goodies there are and properly seat Evbo’Uchi on her stool of Grace highly placed.

However, I have certain concerns.

Buildings, bridges, automobiles and the system that drive these are not aliens. They are driven by homo-sapiens with beating hearts, bloody veins and brains in the cranial regions. They are driven by people who have been trained and empowered by people to serve the course of humanity. I’m sure you already know where this is probably heading but then, there’s more.

As a child of the later 90s, I grew up in the streets of Auchi when the likes of  Late Hon. Barr. Prince Hassan Kadiri, Late Otumba Charlton Mogaji, Late Engr. Abdulazeez Momoh, Late Major General Hafiz Momoh, Late Prince L.F. Momoh, Late Alh. Chief Usman Shagadi and Late Rt. Hon. Zakawanu Garuba were household names. They were not just mere names but they were highly placed in the scheme of things beyond the shores of Edo state. Today, the Dania, Samali, Daudu I, Takobi, Madaiki, Osimua and Oshioze of Auchi Sacred kingdom have all respectfully obeyed the final call that you and I are currently awaiting.

Whatever capacity they operated in and lived by was not as a result of their perfection nor were they overtly special than their counterparts. We can all agree that these individuals were hardworking and intellectuals in their chosen fields but then there must have been those who were more but for the grace of Almighty Allah, our Late Fathers and uncles (sons of Auchi Sacred Kingdom) were empowered by others who were themselves empowered too.

Today, it is almost safe to say that the vacuum created as a result of their transition from life and living is yet to be occupied not because Auchi lacks their likes, but because the tradition of lifting others when you’re lifted stopped somewhere. I know you may want to fault this thought according to your bias but then the resultant effect of the lack in the transmission of empowerment from the empowered to the haves-not is manifest in the spate of unemployed graduates hovering the length and breadth of the fastest developing town in the most populous black nation of the world _Auchi.

There’s so much talented, intelligent, hardworking and skillful able-bodied graduates who having completed their degree programmes and further done post grad, have become wasteful not because of their making but because the enablement isn’t just there. Many have resorted to ignoble acts and ventures with meagre earnings to cater for their immediate needs while the vast majority have taking political support for and or against candidates/political parties as their stock in trade not because they cannot do anything else but because anything else isn’t just there. The danger is enormous, the effect is adverse. Lots have taken to drugs and other illicit acts to deal with their frustration. Others have chosen to cross the Mediterranean or die trying while a much  chunky lot have become tools for politicians to toil with every electioneering year.

From the foregoing gory picture painted, it is safe to say that a precarious situation looms when the number of the haves-not, frustrated and sycophants will far outnumber the number of those who may still seem sane. When this happens, God forbid it does, the danger like I said earlier will be enormous with an attendant adverse effect.

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However, if the haves-enough, haves-a lot and haves-all can be generous like Auchi Sacred kingdom has been with peace under the leadership HRH Alhaji Aliru Momoh (Otaru of Auchi), pay their rent through charitable acts that will empower the lot of unengaged youths, Heavens will beam radiance on every household in Auchi. A lot has been set in motion to reposition Auchi Sacred kingdom in her rightful place in the scheme of things politically and socio-economically, but these efforts may amount to nothing if lives at the grassroot are not touched, empowered and carried along in the programmes aboard our flight to enviable heights. I therefore suggest that a committee of Social and Humanitarian Services be added to the already existing committees operating under the aegis of AAA, AGM and the likes to address the issues raised so far in view of a better Auchi.

To conclude this piece, here is an analogy of the opening part of this write-up. Some of us will never die, not because we are immune to death but because we have paid our rent (in charity) while we drew breath and so our legacies will live on. Many of us are already dead not because our corpses have been laid in state but because, while our candle burnt, it did not torch the path of those without illumination nor was any candle lit by our light whilst we lived. Finally, many of us are dead awaiting not because we suffer any terminal illnesses but because we are yet to give life to the lifeless and meaning to the life of struggling beings within our reach.

I know and I’m anticipating criticisms in view of the claims made in the course of this article but please be open minded and gentle because I have drawn inferences from my focal point in view of recent happenings, as I too, am a talent waiting to be harnessed having had my first degree in the academic field of Mass Communication from the prestigious Tertiary Institution of Auchi Polytechnic after 5years with a post grad in same discipline added.  Even though I have struggled all these years to keep my head on my neck while catering for the needs of my family, the Nigerian factor and most recently, the reality and severity of COVID-19 has made life a living hell for me and my likes who are young talents willing to take on opportunities given the chance.

If the previous paragraph is correct, the question then is, Is Auchi Doing Well? Aren’t We? Why Not? _ Are We? How Well?

Auchi’Okpa! Utsomha’khekpabor!!